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Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

I have a heater and a solar cover for my pool. A friend was telling me that they got some little ball that they put in their skimmer and it lasts for a month and acts as a solar cover for the pool. I can't imagine this working but she said when they night swim and jump in the pool the area that they jumped into is the only place that they can see the heat escaping. Just wondering if anyone has tried them?

Re: Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

I'm currently using the pill now as my solar cover was torn off the pool by the wind. I followed the instructions and put the pin in and put it in the skimmer as was instructed. It said after 4 hours all the liquid would have been released into the skimmer. NOT!!! I had to hold it above the skimmer and let it drain out. I have no idea if they work or not although you can detect it on the surface, but seriously I have no idea how one would know.

Re: Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

I know a lot of posters are anti-liquid solar cover and I'm sure you are right, but right now I'm trying to cut down on heating costs, even if just a little. In that line, does anyone know if I can manually add Liquid Heat daily, without buying/installing an expensive automatic feeder? I have a pretty large pool surface (~1025 Sq ft) so I would need several of those expensive little balls at a time. What I would like to try is to just add 2.5 (1 oz. per 400 sq ft) ounces of the bulk Liquid Heat into the skimmer basket each day with a medicine dropper for a while and see if I get any improvement. A cover would be hard for me since I have a "free form" type pool and my wife would have a hard time removing "pieces" if I were to cut up/combine two solar covers.

gabagoo - did you notice any problems from quickly draining the solar ball vs. having it absorb over 4 hours?

Re: Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

not sure as that was the first time I had used one. I could detect it inthe water over the next 2 weeks and even now I can sort of see it but the weather has been so crappy this year with night time temps dropping so low that I can retain not a lot of heat. I have 2 more balls so I will use them till there gone

Re: Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

heres the deal on any invisible solar cover.....the water needs to be still while using these. Point all the returns down and the heatsaver will work. it is like mercury, if you touch it, it will break apart but as soon as you move away it comeback together.

Re: Little balls you put in skimmer that act like solar cover?

Originally Posted by leak-hound

heres the deal on any invisible solar cover.....the water needs to be still while using these. Point all the returns down and the heatsaver will work. it is like mercury, if you touch it, it will break apart but as soon as you move away it comeback together.

Great explanation, leak-hound. I always wondered how this liquid cover stuff worked and apparently, if you get in to actually swim or want to aerate the water... it doesn't.